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Welcome! Whether you have Gold Rush ancestors or have no family connection to California, you will find extensive support for your genealogy research at the California Genealogical Society (CGS).

Happy Holidays! The library will be closed beginning December 22nd and will reopen on January 5th. Have a wonderful time with your friends and family.

Annual General Meeting

Our Annual Membership and Business Meeting will take place on Saturday January 14 from 11:30.M. to 3 P.M. in the Second Floor Conference Room beginning with a potluck lunch at 11:30; the meeting begins at 1 P.M. The meeting agenda includes brief committee reports, approval of the 2017 budget, presentation of the slate of nominees, and electing the Board of Directors for 2017.

Winter Classes

For many of our ancestors, New York City was the gateway to their new home in America. Learn the important basics about New York City genealogical records and resources, including special censuses, naturalization records, probate records, and city directories. Then share your New York City questions with expert and popular speaker, Steve Harris, PhD.

Eastern European genealogy presents unique challenges to the researcher because of shifting boundaries, multiple languages, multiple religions, politics and population movement. Ancestral towns frequently had multiple names simultaneously, and even locals had difficulty with consistent recordation of names and relationships.

CGS Board Member Vicky Kowlakowski highlights the best resources and strategies for those with ancestors primarily from regions that were formerly parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, corresponding to the modern nations of Austria, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and portions of western Russia.

The discovery of gold was a milestone in the history of the California but also influenced migration and movement across the whole country. Join popular author Melinda Kashuba, PhD to learn about the variety of methods used to get to the gold country and what might have influenced your ancestors' progress, pathways and final destination.

New Vertical File Collection Finding Aid

Vertical File - Dive into the treasure trove in our Vertical File collection of families and places. Search our on-line index which includes a synopsis of each file, providing information to help you determine if coming to the Library to examine the file would be beneficial to your research.

Find My Past Subscription Approved

The board agreed at its November meeting to subscribe to Find My Past, the premier source for online research in the British Isles and the home of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Department's Periodical Source Index, or PERSI.

SPOTLIGHTS

Our Newest Publication – The second printing of San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is now available from our Lulu Bookstore: Learn more.